Host and Parasite
by Lady Psychic
Summary: [one shot, shonen ai, Tendershipping] Feeling the emptiness within his soul, Ryou remembers the Millennium Ring and a certain dark spirit.


_A/N: Here's another fic written for the Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction Contest. This time the pairing is Tendershipping (Yami Bakura/Ryou Bakura), but it will be presented in this story in a possibly one-sided, "could have been but never was" fashion. I hope you all enjoy this!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters._

_Warnings: mild shonen-ai themes, one-shot_

**Host and Parasite**

Ryou quietly studied in his apartment one afternoon as he was preparing for the upcoming final exams. His father was currently away on a business trip, but Ryou knew how to take care of himself. What was currently on the white-haired boy's mind was to get good grades and make his father proud.

Still, he couldn't help but feel rather lonely as he sat in the silence of his apartment.

After constantly studying for several hours, Ryou finally decided to take a break. As he headed towards the kitchen to acquire something to drink, he noticed a picture standing on a nearby table out of the corner of his eye. Forgetting about his thirst, the white-haired boy turned around and picked the framed photo up. It had been taken a while ago, back when he still had the Millennium Ring in his possession. Unconsciously, Ryou's fingers began to stroke the image of the Ring as memories flooded his mind.

The Millennium Ring was a gift given to him from his father several years ago. At first, Ryou thought it was a simple trinket that his father had collected during his trip to Egypt. He had no clue that the seemingly innocent object contained an ancient magic and that it housed a dark, vengeful spirit.

Ryou's expression darkened as he thought about the spirit of the Ring. There were several reasons for him to hate the evil entity. After all, the spirit had possessed his body countless times, threatened the lives of Yugi and his friends, and had attempted to plunge the world into darkness.

However, there was a part of him that gotten used to the dark spirit. Ryou had constantly worn the Millennium Ring around his neck during the past few years; thus, the spirit was always with him. Even back when he didn't know the spirit's existence, he could sometimes sense a strange presence within himself. It was a fact that both unnerved and comforted him. Though Ryou had unwilling shared his body with the dark entity, the truth was that its presence had keep him from feeling totally alone. It was as if the spirit had become a part of him.

At that thought, Ryou's eyes saddened and he placed the picture back on the table as the memories faded back to reality. The dark spirit was now gone, and the Millennium Ring had been destroyed along with all the other Millennium Items. It was the absence of both that had plagued Ryou during the last couple of months.

There had been several times he had caught himself unconsciously trying to touch the Millennium Ring around neck, only to remember that it was no longer there. Ryou supposed that he was just too used to the ring being around his neck that it was hard to get used to its absence. He was also not used to the lack of a certain dark spirit trying to control his body. Of course, Ryou had to admit that he was glad that his body was no longer being possessed for potentially evil purposes. Still, he couldn't help but feel empty inside ever since the spirit had been defeated.

Shaking his head, Ryou turned around and headed into the kitchen. The white-haired boy poured himself a glass of cool water and filled it with ice. Then, he slowly took a sip of his drink. He had hoped that it would help relax him and take his mind of things; however, the refreshing liquid couldn't stop the thoughts that were stirring in his mind.

By all counts, Ryou should have been happy that the spirit of the Ring was gone. The spirit was like a parasite that lived off his host's body and used it for his own gain. His newly found freedom from the spirit was something Ryou should have embraced. Deep down, however, the white-haired boy felt empty and alone.

Ryou was unsure why he sometimes felt lonely, especially since he had recently become good friends with Yugi and the others. He had lately hanged out with them whenever he had some free time on his hands and didn't need to study for a test. Yet, even all of their friendship couldn't fill the emptiness inside him.

Realizing that the glass was now empty of water, Ryou poured the ice into the sink and rinsed out the glass. After putting it away, the boy slowly walked back to his desk with the intention of continuing his studying. As the passed by the picture on the table, he took another glance at it and a thought popped into his mind.

'I wonder what he thought about me?' wondered Ryou as sat down in his seat. 'Was I nothing more than a host to him? Did he only think of me as a pawn or a means to an end? Or was I something more than that?'

Ryou sometimes wondered if the dark spirit really was pure evil, or if he actually had feelings somewhere deep within his soul. Even though it seemed rather unlikely, the boy would like to think that within darkness of the entity there had once been a spark of light and maybe even kindness. Maybe if he could have somehow taught the spirit about love and friendship, things would have turned out differently.

Then again, perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

As he tried to resume studying, the Ryou thought, 'I wonder what would have happened if there were different circumstances involved. Would we still be nothing more than a host and a parasite? Or would we have had the chance to become closer than that? Could we have possibly become soulmates or something of the sort?'

Ryou shook his head and sighed. There was no use thinking such things now. After all, those were questions that would probably never be answered.

**The End**


End file.
